BSc (Hons); MSc; PhD; FHEA
Senior Lecturer
- About
-
- Email Address
- lucia.dambruoso@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 437127
- Office Address
Aberdeen Centre for Health Dta Science (ACHDS) Room 1:172, Polwarth Building, Foresterhill Health Campus, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK
- School/Department
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
Biography
I am a social scientist and health policy and systems researcher with interests in social, political and commercial determinants of health inequalities, participatory theory and method, and knowledge transfer between communities, health systems and policy. My work integrates critical realist theory with participatory action research and political economy analysis, and spans global health in sub-Saharan Africa and health inequalities in Scotland.
Following a decade working on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation maternal mortality reduction programme at the University of Aberdeen (2000–10) and a postdoctoral fellowship at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy at Umeå University (2011–13), I returned to Aberdeen in 2013 and have built a sustained portfolio of independent research in global health and global challenges, securing over £1m in competitive awards as Principal Investigator with co-investigator roles on a further three NIHR-funded programmes totalling approximately £9m (2022–27).
I am a founding member of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, contributing to workstreams on ethical, social and computational dimensions of mortality data. I am Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Development at the University of Aberdeen, and contribute to postgraduate curriculum design, supervision and global health policy advisory roles.
Expressions of interest from those wishing to undertake PhD research in related areas are welcome.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Pharamcology1997 - University of Aberdeen
- MSc Public Health and Health Services Research2003 - University of Aberdeen
- PhD Public Health2011 - University of Aberdeen
- FHEA Higher Education2017 - Higher Education Academy
- FRSPH Public Health2020 - Royal Society for Public Health
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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- Deputy Director and member Executive Committee, Centre for Global Development
- Member Senior Management Team, Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science
- Steering Group Member Delivery of Care Research Group. Institute of Applied Health Sciences
- Member Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team, Institute of Applied Health Science
- External Memberships
-
External Recognition
- 2025-date: Funding Panel Member National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UK- Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST)
- 2025-date: Jury Advisory Board Member Elsevier Foundation and The Lancet Global Health Evidence to Impact Lancet-Elsevier Foundation Award
- 2025: Fellow Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study (STIAS) https://stias.ac.za/fellows/projects/bringing-unique-data-to-wicked-problems-developing-health-system-models-for-equitable-access-to-healthcare-in-sub-saharan-africa/
- 2024-date: Tenured Funding Panel Member National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHTS) Funding Committee (Call 8)
- 2024-date: Member UK Prevention Research Network (PRN) https://ukprp.org/prevention-research-network/
- 2024-date: Member Community Engagement Working Group Cape Town Systematic Healthcare Action Research Project (C-SHARP) urban health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) node part of the South African Population Research Infrastructure Network (SAPRIN)
- 2024 - date: Member, Grampian Engagement Network, NHS Grampian
- 2024 - date: Steering Group Member, Research & Evaluating Lived Experience Community of Practice: Steering Group, NHS Grampian
- 2022 - date: Staff member WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2022-24: Member National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHTS) Funding Committee (Calls 5 and 6)
- 2021-22: Sub-committee member Health and Wellbeing Forum for Global Challenges, University of Birmingham 2021
- 2020-date: Senior Reviewer Pre-Publication Support Service (PREPSS) https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/prepss/about-prepss/our-team/peer-reviewers?authuser=0
- 2017-date: Member Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Improving Scotland’s Health: 2021 and Beyond
- 2015-date Trustee Naretu Girls and Women Empowerment Programme, Kenya
- 2014-19 Member Steering Committee Politics of Health Group (POHG)
- 2011-17 Editorial Board BMC International Health and Human Rights
- 2010-date Editorial Board Global Health Action
Professional Memberships
- 2021 FRSPH Fellow Royal Society for Public Health
- 2017 FHEA Fellow Higher Education Academy
Visiting Academic Appointments
- Extraordinary Senior Lecturer, Centre for Global Surgery, Stellenbosch University, SOUTH AFRICA
- Honorary Analyst, Public Health/Health Protection, National Health Service (NHS) Grampian, SCOTLAND, UK
- Honorary Senior Researcher, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA
- Global Affiliate, Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine Umeå University, SWEDEN
Latest Publications
Solving wicked problems using a health system dynamics model: the case of injury care in LMICs
BMJ Global HealthContributions to Journals: ArticlesA qualitative study of the lived experiences of working age adults living with adventitious total bilateral blindness in Nigeria
Global Public HealthContributions to Journals: ArticlesA Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Working Age Adults Living with Adventitious Total Bilateral Blindness in Nigeria
Working Papers: Preprint Papers- [ONLINE] https://ssrn.com/abstract=6683278
Evaluating the implementation of the vignettes-based injury care process assessment tool in low- and middle-income countries settings
BMC Health Services ResearchContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-14424-2
Community and health systems learning: critical realist evaluation of the VAPAR ‘learning platform’ in rural South Africa 2015-25
Wellcome Open Res, vol. 10, 135Contributions to Journals: Articles
Prizes and Awards
- 2024 University of Aberdeen Interdisciplinary Research Award https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EouaK7g8zyE
- 2024 University of Aberdeen Outstanding Research Award - Individuals at Further Stages of Career Development (STEM) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EouaK7g8zyE
- Research
-
Research Overview
My work draws on two primary methodological traditions. The first is verbal autopsy, a method for routine mortality surveillance that reconstructs the medical and social dimensions of unregistered deaths, and the ethics of investigating deaths in under-resourced settings. The second is participatory action research, applied to shift power towards those most directly affected by health inequalities: to know, understand, act and transform conditions shaping health. Both commitments are grounded in social justice and inform my broader interests in health policy and systems, political economy, and critical interpretive approaches to health inequalities.
My primary programme of international research is VAPAR (Verbal Autopsy and Participatory Action Research), a cooperative learning methodology developed over a decade across sites in South Africa in collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand, Mpumalanga Department of Health and partners (2015–25; www.vapar.org). This work is adapted and extended in the COLCOS programme (Cost-of-Living, Cost-of-Smoking), a demonstration study of cooperative action learning applied to smoking in deprived communities in rural northeast Scotland (2023–25; www.cost-of-smoking.org).
I hold substantive co-investigator roles on three NIHR-funded programmes totalling approximately £9m (2022–27): the Global Health Research Group on Promoting Children's and Adolescent's Mental Wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa; the Global Health Research Group on Equitable Access to Quality Health Care for Injured People (Equi-Injury); and Rwanda912, developing an electronic communications platform to improve pre-hospital transport for injured people in Rwanda.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Applied Health Sciences.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Funding and Grants
Active
Davies J (PI), Chu K (PI), D’Ambruoso L (collaborator) RURAL_SURG: Developing community strategies to strengthen access to surgical care in rural Africa (NSGR1S2\1032)
Academy of Medical Sciences
2025-27
197,284 GBP
P Abbott (PI), Binagwaho A (PI), L D’Ambruoso (CI) et al. NIHR Global Health Research Group on Promoting Children’s and Adolescent’s Mental Wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa
NIHR Global Health Research Group
2022-26
2,717,954 GBP
Davies J (PI), Chu K (PI), D’Ambruoso L (CI) et al. NIHR Global Health Research Group on Equitable Access to Quality Health Care for Injured People in Four Low- or Middle-Income Countries: Equi-injury
NIHR Global Health Research Units and Groups Programme
2022-26
2,955,703 GBP
Davies J (PI) D’Ambruoso L (CI) et al. Rwanda912: Use of an electronic communications platform to improve pre-hospital transport of injured people
NIHR Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHTS)
2022-27
3,199,931 GBP
Complete
D’Ambruoso L (PI), Hove J (CI). Building bridges: institutionalising practical solutions for community participation in rural South Africa through primary health care policy and practice engagement Changing Policy and Practice
Medical Research Foundation
2024-25
29,690 GBP
D'Ambruoso (PI), Duffy S (CI), Watson K (CI), Littlejohn C (CI). Cost of living/cost of smoking: participatory action research on smoking in deprived communities in the cost-of-living crisis
Cancer Research UK (CRUK)/ASH Scotland
2022-24
72,485 GBP
D'Ambruoso L (PI), Byass P (CI), Witter S (CI), Kahn K (CI), Tollman S (CI), R Twine (CI), B Spies (CI), M van der Merwe (CI). Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): expanding the knowledge base through partnerships for action on health equity
MRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, DFID. Joint Health Systems Research Initiative
2017-23
705,647 GBP
D’Ambruoso L, Witter S. Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): expanding the knowledge base through partnerships for action on health equity (COVID-19 Response)
Scottish Funding Council GCRF Covid-19 Response
2021
42,048 GBP
D’Ambruoso L, Witter S, Twine R, Kahn K, Tollman S. Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): expanding the knowledge base through partnerships for action on health equity (COVID-19 Response)
UKRI Covid-19 Extension Allocation Fund
2020-21
22,955 GBP
Anderson l, Camanda J, Chocolate FAM, Buco R, D’Ambruoso L, Lohfeld L. Evaluating opportunities and barriers to establishing an autonomous and functional sickle cell anaemia (SCA) unit in Cabinda, Angola
GCRF Institutional Pump Priming Fund (IPPF) (internal award)
2020
55,570 GBP
Loewenson R (PI), D'Ambruoso L (CI). Fostering policy support for child and family wellbeing - Learning from international experience
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
2018-20
289,600 USD
D'Ambruoso L (PI), Byass P (CI), Hurtig AK (CI), Kahn K (CI), Tollman S (CI). Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): Developing a people-centred health systems research methodology. Development Grant
MRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, DFID. Joint Health Systems Research Initiative
2015-16
99,604 GBP
Hussein J (PI), Newlands D (CI), D’Ambruoso L (CI). Review of maternal and newborn health policies in five South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan). Policy Review
UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia
2007-08
300,000 USD
- Teaching
-
Teaching Responsibilities
Course coordinator:
- BU5594: Health Policy and Systems Research
I also teach on:
- PU5033: Introduction to Global Health
- PU5505: Global Health
- PU5521: Work-Based Placements with Health and Development Sector Organisations
- PU5906: Global Health Research Project
- PU5027: Fundamentals of Research Design (Online course)
- ME33GH: Global Health and Humanities (Year 3 MBChB Medical Humanities SSC Option)
- SX1012: Sustainable International Development (6th Century Course)
- Africa: Sustainable Development for All? (Massive online open access course, MOOC) https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/africa-sustainable-development
- Publications
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Solving wicked problems using a health system dynamics model: the case of injury care in LMICs
BMJ Global HealthContributions to Journals: ArticlesA qualitative study of the lived experiences of working age adults living with adventitious total bilateral blindness in Nigeria
Global Public HealthContributions to Journals: ArticlesA Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Working Age Adults Living with Adventitious Total Bilateral Blindness in Nigeria
Working Papers: Preprint Papers- [ONLINE] https://ssrn.com/abstract=6683278
Evaluating the implementation of the vignettes-based injury care process assessment tool in low- and middle-income countries settings
BMC Health Services ResearchContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-14424-2
Community and health systems learning: critical realist evaluation of the VAPAR ‘learning platform’ in rural South Africa 2015-25
Wellcome Open Res, vol. 10, 135Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDelays in seeking and reaching care for injured patients in four low-income and middle-income countries: a cohort study
BMJ Global Health, vol. 11, no. 3, e021659Contributions to Journals: ArticlesReasons for not seeking formal healthcare after injuries: A qualitative study with injured individuals in four low- and middle-income countries
Global Public Health, vol. 21, no. 1, 2650929Contributions to Journals: ArticlesWicked problems and the recovery of meaning: critical systems thinking for injury care in low- and middle-income countries
Critical Public Health, vol. 36, no. 1, 2626182Contributions to Journals: ArticlesCommunity and health systems learning: Evaluation of the VAPAR ‘learning platform’ experience in Mpumalanga, South Africa 2017-23
Wellcome open research, vol. 10, 135Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPromoting and protecting mental health of people living with adventitious blindness and low vision: a scoping review of protective and risk factors
Journal of Community Systems for Health, vol. 2, no. 1, 1213Contributions to Journals: Review articles
